Projects

MYANMARA NEW NETWORK OF CLINICS IN YANGON

MYANMARA NEW NETWORK OF CLINICS IN YANGON

20 November, 2012

AIDS treatments are only effective in the long term. Thazin is the name of a flower, but also the name of the clinic opened by Medical Action Myanmar (MAM) in June 2009 in Hlaingthayar, one of the poorest areas of the Yangon region, Myanmar.

Medical Action Myanmar is supported by the ArtAids Foundation for the diagnosis and treatment of HIV.

Currently MAM is treating 963 patients with antiretrovirals: 904 adults and 59 children. Out of the 3,600 people who had an AIDS test in 2011, 530 tested positive. In other words, 18% of the total, which is a very high rate.

MAM will soon open a new centre in another impoverished area, Shwepyitha, laying the foundation stone for a network of clinics that will provide healthcare to the population. It is a necessary step: Myanmar receives less Official Development Assistance than any of the other poorest developing countries.

The new clinics will operate in accordance with the idea of a ‘global clinic’. That is, each clinic will offer AIDS tests, carry out prevention campaigns, provide diagnosis, offer antiretroviral treatment and help the poorest patients with food and transport costs. The goal is for each of the future clinics to cover the whole range of needs.

H+F

Han Nefkens started to collect art in 2000. The H+F Collection, named after himself and his partner Felipe, is in long-term loan to various museums in The Netherlands and abroad. Nowadays Han Nefkens is not only active as a collector but also as an initiator of international art projects, often in collaboration with museums and other art institutions.

Fundació Han Nefkens

The Han Nefkens Foundation is a private non-profit organisation that was set up in Barcelona in 2009 with the aim of promoting the production of contemporary artworks. The mission is to stimulate artistic creation in Barcelona by offering international artists an opportunity to create artworks and interventions in the city, and to promote other fields of contemporary creation.

Han Nefkens

According to Han Nefkens, sharing is the antidote to loneliness, and he does so through his artistic and anti-AIDS projects and his writing. In 1995, he made his debut with the autobiographical novel Bloedverwanten (“Parents”), which was followed by Twee lege stoelen (“Two empty chairs”, 2006) and De gevlogen vogel (“The bird flew”, 2008). Nefkens also writes short pieces, “vignettes”.